by Julie Kagawa
I looked around, noting that the bamboo grove had changed. We now stood in a forest of blossoming sakura trees, their pink petals drifting to the ground like snow. “I’m…dreaming,” I guessed, turning back to the white fox. “This is a dream.”
“You can call it that.” The white fox nodded. “It is certainly closer to the truth than anything else.”
I frowned, trying to dredge up a memory long buried in my mind. Of a day in the forest, hiding from the monks, and the sudden feeling of being watched. Of a pair of glowing golden eyes, a bushy white tail, and the sense of longing that came when our gazes met. “I…I’ve seen you before,” I whispered. “Haven’t I? A long time ago.” He didn’t answer, and I cocked my head. “Why are you showing up in my dream now?”
“Your plan to exorcise Hakaimono is going to fail.”
The ground beneath my paws seemed to crumble away, leaving me hovering in a void. “What?”
“Hakaimono is too strong,” the white fox continued calmly. “In the past, the Kage have attempted to do what you are planning, to force the oni spirit back into Kamigoroshi. It ended in death and disaster. Hakaimono is not a normal demon, and the demonslayer’s relationship with the Cursed Blade is unique. Even if you manage to capture and bind the First Oni, the priest and shrine maiden will fail the exorcism, and Hakaimono will kill you all.”
I trembled, forcing myself to meet those piercing yellow eyes. How can you know that? I wanted to say, but the words froze in my throat when I met a gaze that had seen kingdoms rise and mountains crumble. Those eyes were ancient, all encompassing, and gazing into them was like staring into the face of the moon itself. I looked down at my paws.
“I can’t give up,” I whispered. “I have to try. I promised Tatsumi that I wouldn’t leave him to Hakaimono.”
“If you want to save the demonslayer,” the white fox said, “relying on humans is not the answer. If you truly wish to free Kage Tatsumi, you must do it yourself. From the inside.”
From the inside? Bewildered, I looked up at him. “I don’t understand.”
“You do,” was the cool reply. “You were speaking of it tonight, in fact. Oni are not the only creatures who can possess a human soul.”
Understanding dawned, and I flattened my ears in horror. “You mean…kitsune-tsuki?”
“Sacred rituals and exorcism will not work on Hakaimono,” the white fox continued, as if oblivious to my dismay. “They are only words. Words of power, yes, but Hakaimono’s will is stronger than any human’s, and he will not submit. To have a chance of saving the demonslayer, another spirit must confront the oni lord within Kage Tatsumi’s body, and drive him out by force.”
“But…that would mean I would have to possess Tatsumi-san myself.”
“Yes.”
Flattening my ears even further, I backed away. “I can’t do that,” I whispered, as the other kitsune’s eyes narrowed to golden slits. “Possessing a human body. It’s…evil!”
“Who told you that?” the white fox asked. “The monks at the temple? The ones who tried to limit your kitsune magic, who insisted that you remain mostly human?” His slender muzzle curled. “Kitsune-tsuki is only a tool, little cub. Much like your illusions and foxfire, magic itself cannot be evil. It is how you use your powers that determines the intent.”
His words had an eerily truthful ring to them, but they still felt…strange. If it wasn’t dangerous, why had kitsune-tsuki been so strictly forbidden by the monks at the Silent Winds temple that I wasn’t even allowed to talk about it, lest I become curious? “I’ve never done kitsune-tsuki,” I said. “In fact, I’m not even sure I can. I’m only half fox, after all.”
“That does not matter.” The white fox shook his head. “Kitsune-tsuki comes naturally to all of us. As I believe your Master Isao once said, it is in your blood. When the time comes, your yokai half will know what to do.”
“But…It just feels…wrong.”
His magnificent tail gave an irritated twitch. “I see. Then perhaps we should view the problem from a different perspective.”
The forest around us disappeared. Petals swirled through the air like they were caught in a typhoon, blinding and suffocating. When I sneezed and looked up again, the soft petals had turned into snowflakes. I stood among the clouds at the top of a mountain, gazing down on the humans’ empire, far, far below.
The world was burning. Everywhere I looked, all I could see were flames, consuming the land and spreading everywhere. I could smell ash and smoke, and the stench of burning flesh clogged my throat, making me cough. It seemed I was looking down on the plane of Jigoku itself.
“That is the state of the empire,” the white fox said behind me, seated primly on a snow-covered rock, “if you cannot stop Hakaimono.”
My legs shook. The howling wind seemed to dig talons of ice beneath my fur and rake them down my back. I stared at the destruction, as the tongues of red-and-orange flames blurred together, filling my vision until all I could see was fire.
“Think on it carefully, little dreamer.” The white fox’s voice now seemed to come from far away. “Before the flames of war consume the world, consider how choices will affect everyone. You are the only one who can defeat the First Oni and save the demonslayer’s soul. I can show you how and give you the best chance of victory when you come face-to-face with Jigoku’s strongest oni. But only if you are willing.
“Unfortunately,” he went on, as I stood there struggling to breathe, “our moment here is nearly done. You are needed back in the waking world, little dreamer. Just remember my offer, and I will find you again when the time is right. For now, the shadows draw close, and you must…”
Wake up.
I opened my eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. The forest was too quiet; the rustle of small animals was gone, and the insects had fallen silent. I sat up carefully and saw Daisuke and Master Jiro dozing with their chins on their chests and Reika curled up near the fire with the two dogs.
A man stood at the edge of the firelight, his long shadow spilling over the ground.
At my yelp, Daisuke’s eyes snapped open, and Reika jerked upright, tumbling the dogs out of her lap. Seeing the stranger, the dogs exploded into a cacophony of high-pitched snarls and barks, bristling and showing tiny teeth to the intruder, who watched them with cold amusement.
“Hush, now.” His voice was high and raspy, and he raised a spindly hand before the rest of us could say anything. “I did not come here for a fight. Do not do anything…hasty.”
Movement rippled around us, shadows melting out of the darkness to form a dozen figures clad completely in black, only their eyes showing through the slits in their masks and hoods. Their swords gleamed silver in the moonlight, a dozen razors of death surrounding us in a bristly ring. Shinobi, I realized with a chill. Their uniforms were unmarked; only the stranger in billowing black robes wore the familiar crest that set my heart to pounding: a moon being swallowed by an eclipse. The symbol of the Kage.
The Shadow Clan had come.
3
THE SHADOWS CLOSE IN
Yumeko
The robed man stepped farther into the firelight, and the orange glow washed over him. He was very thin, his face pinched and narrow, and his bones showed through the papery skin of his hands, as if some force had sucked away his vitality. His face was painted white, his lips and eyes outlined in black, as he loomed over us like some terrible specter of death. For a moment, I wondered…were he to suddenly die while his ghost lingered on, would anyone even know?
“Please excuse this intrusion,” the man rasped. His stark black gaze, cold and impassive, slid to me, and I shivered. “I hope we have not disturbed anything important.”
“Where is Okame-san?” I asked, and the man arched an ink-thin eyebrow. “He would have told us you were coming if he could. What did you do to him?”
The tall man gestured toward a tree. I glanced up and saw Okame in the branches, bound hand and foot to the tree trunk, a gag stuffed int
o his mouth. A shinobi crouched on the branch nearby, the ronin’s bow across his knees.
“I’m afraid we could not have your friend alerting you,” the man said, as Okame struggled against the ropes and glared at him. “We wouldn’t have wanted you to get the wrong idea—that we were simple bandits in the night. Worry not, it was a temporary solution.”
He raised a hand, and the shinobi who had been crouched on the branch immediately turned and sliced through the ropes tying the ronin to the tree. As Okame started to free himself, growling curses as he yanked out the gag, the shadow warrior melted into the darkness, leaving the ronin’s bow hanging from a nearby branch.
The knot in my stomach uncurled, but only a little. There were still a dozen shinobi surrounding us, plus the robed stranger at the edge of the firelight. The scent of magic clung to him, stale but powerful, like some highly poisonous mushroom.
“What is the meaning of this, Kage?” Daisuke asked in a cool voice. The noble hadn’t moved from his place against the log, but both hands remained on his sword. “This is Sky Clan territory, and we are mere hours from the Taiyo border. You have no authority here, and no right to set upon us as if we are common bandits. If you cannot produce proper documentation, I must humbly request that you leave.”
The tall man gave a ghastly smile. “I’m afraid I cannot do that, Taiyo-san,” he said, sounding pleased and offended at the same time. “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kage Naganori, and I am here at the behest of the daimyo of the Shadow Clan, Lady Hanshou herself.”
Reika straightened. “Naganori?” she echoed.
“Indeed.” The man turned his predatory smile on her, making Chu and Ko, now sitting beside her, growl and bare their teeth. “The little girl is perhaps the wisest of the bunch,” he mused. “Perhaps the rest of you have heard of me?”
“I haven’t,” Okame said. The ronin stalked into the circle, bristling like an angry dog, ready to snap at anything that got too close. “I’m still waiting to see why I should be impressed.”
“Okame-san.” Reika gave the ronin a warning glance. “Kage Naganori is the Shadow Clan’s arch-mage, the head majutsushi of the Kage family.”
“Yes,” agreed Naganori, stark black eyes now glaring at Okame. “But if you desire a show of talent, ronin, I would be happy to indulge your question. Perhaps you would be impressed if I made your shadow dance without you? Or if I commanded the night kami to blind you for the rest of your life?” He raised an open hand. A tiny ball of living blackness hovered over his palm, swirling in the air like ink. “Perhaps a curse of darkness, where all light will forever be snuffed out wherever you go, will be enough to impress?”
“It does not become one of your station to threaten, Naganori-san,” came Master Jiro’s quiet, calming voice from the other side of the firepit. “Nor did you seek us out to place curses on random ronin. Why have you come?”
Naganori sniffed, dropping his arm and the globe of shadow with it. “As I said before,” he continued, “we are on a mission from Lady Hanshou. I apologize for this intrusion, but it was imperative that we reach you before you reached the Taiyo border.” The majutsushi turned and fixed me with his piercing stare. “We have come for the onmyoji. Lady Hanshou has requested her presence.”
“Me?” My blood chilled. I was still wearing the billowy red-and-white onmyoji robes from the night I had performed in front of the emperor. It had been part of a ploy to get us all into the Imperial palace to search for Master Jiro, as peasant girls, ronin and shrine maidens could not simply stroll through the gates unannounced. I was certainly not an onmyoji, a mystical diviner of the future, but that night, I had found myself in front of the Imperial court and the most powerful man in the country, and if I had failed to convince him that I was what I claimed to be, we would all have been executed.
It had taken a little kitsune magic and more than a little luck, but not only had the emperor believed my performance, he had offered to make me his royal onmyoji. I had respectfully declined his offer, but it seemed the story of the onmyoji girl and the emperor’s fortune had spread farther than I’d have liked. I could suddenly feel the scroll beneath my robes, pressed against my ribs, and I twisted my fingers in my lap to keep them from straying toward it. “Why?” I asked Naganori. “What does Lady Hanshou want with me?”
“It is not my place to know. You can ask her that when you get there.”
My heart pounded for a whole different reason. Lady Hanshou was the woman who had sent Tatsumi to the Silent Winds temple to fetch the scroll. Had she figured out that I possessed it? No. If she truly knew that I had it, she wouldn’t have sent the majutsushi to talk with me; I would have gotten a knife to the throat while I slept.
Still, venturing into the territory of Kage, when their daimyo was actively looking for the scroll, seemed like a very bad idea. “If it’s all the same, I’d really rather not.”
“I’m afraid I must insist.” The majutsushi raised a hand, and the shadow warriors hovering in the darkness took a menacing step forward. Daisuke tensed, and Okame half raised his bow, as the growling from the two dogs rose sharply into the air. “I do not wish this to end in violence,” Naganori said, clasping his hands before him. “But we will be taking the girl to Lady Hanshou. Those who oppose us will be cut down for interfering in Shadow Clan official business.”
“I would be more cautious with your threats, Kage-san,” Daisuke said, earning a frown from the majutsushi. “Lady Yumeko is under my protection, and harming a Taiyo is a crime against the Imperial family. I am certain Lady Hanshou does not want to start a war with the Sun Clan.”
“Daisuke-san…” I looked at the noble in surprise.
“She’s also under the protection of the Hayate shrine,” Reika chimed in, and raised her arm, an ofuda strip held between two fingers. Chu and Ko stepped forward, forming a tiny barrier in front of the shrine maiden, their eyes shining gold and green in the darkness. “I’m afraid we cannot let you take her away, even if we must defy the Kage daimyo herself.”
“Yep,” Okame added, smiling evilly as he fitted an arrow to his bowstring. “Basically, you want Yumeko, you have to go through all of us.”
“Insolence!” Naganori bristled, and around us, the shinobi raised their swords. “I will not stand and argue with ronin and commoners.” The Shadow mage raised his hands, and the air around him grew darker as even the firelight flinched away from him. “Our Lady sent us for the girl, and if you get in the way of our mission, we will have no choice but to strike you down.”
“Wait!” Quickly, I stood up and faced the majutsushi, and the circle of blades turned in my direction. “I’ll go,” I told him. My stomach twisted with the words, but if the other choice was a bloodbath with shinobi and a Shadow mage, I’d choose the less messy option. Even though meeting Lady Hanshou would probably go very badly for me, I didn’t want to drag the rest of them into a fight with Tatsumi’s family. There were a lot of shinobi surrounding us, ready to pounce, and those were just the ones we could see. And the majutsushi was an even bigger question mark. I didn’t think Naganori’s Shadow magic would produce flowers and butterflies, unless they were black butterflies that ate your soul, which didn’t seem healthy at all.
And perhaps, when I faced Lady Hanshou, the leader of the Shadow Clan, I would learn more about Tatsumi and how I could save his soul from the monster now possessing it.
Stepping forward, I faced Naganori and raised my chin. “I’ll go,” I said again. “If Lady Hanshou has called for me, I will go and speak to her.”
Tatsumi, I’m sorry. I hope you can hang on until I can find a way out of this.
“Yumeko-san.” Reika stepped forward, causing her dogs to skitter aside. “It is inadvisable for you to go right now,” she said, raising her brows at me. No doubt referencing the precious secret hidden beneath my onmyoji robes. “If you are going, then I insist upon coming with you.”
“You don’t have to, Reika-san…” I began. But the shrine maiden gave me
a look reminiscent of the expression Denga-san used to make when he caught me in the middle of a prank, so I fell silent.
Daisuke stood slowly and with great dignity, drawing the attention of all. “I, too, must insist upon accompanying Yumeko-san,” he said. “I made a vow to protect her, and I will not suffer the dishonor of breaking my word. Where she goes, I will follow. Until the time of my death, or she no longer has need of me.”
“And I’m her yojimbo,” Okame added. “The bodyguard goes wherever the client does. So I’m coming, too.” He smirked at Naganori, as if challenging him to refuse. “No matter what anyone says.”
I looked at the majutsushi, expecting him to protest, but Naganori simply smiled. “Such a loyal bunch,” he mused, in a voice that was half-mocking, half-suspicious. His gaze slid to me, flat and cold like a snake’s. “A shrine maiden, an honorless ronin dog and a Taiyo noble, all willing to accompany you into the unknown. What is the onmyoji hiding to deserve such loyalty, I wonder?”
“Maybe I’m not an onmyoji,” I suggested. “Maybe I’m really a kami princess in disguise.”
He snorted a laugh. “That I am certain you are not,” he said, before letting out a long sigh and waving a hand. Behind him, the shinobi straightened and sheathed their blades in a raspy chorus. “Very well,” Naganori said, surprising me. “If your companions are decided, they are welcome to accompany us back to Hakumei castle. Let no one say the Shadow Clan lacks hospitality. You will all be honored guests of the Kage.” He smiled again, but it wasn’t a very nice smile, more knowing and evilly amused. “I am sure Lady Hanshou will be pleased to have you.”
“Back to Kage lands.” Reika’s brow furrowed. “I hope you brought horses. Shadow Clan territory is on the southern edge of Iwagoto, past Sun and Earth lands. Literally on the other side of the empire. It will take weeks of travel to get there.”
“For the uninitiated, yes.” The majutsushi’s voice was now smug. “Why do you think Lady Hanshou sent me, and not a squad of ashigaru—foot soldiers? Were we to travel by foot, it would certainly take far too long. But we are not traveling by ordinary means.” He raised a billowy sleeve, casting a long shadow over the floor. “For those who know the way of shadows, no distance is too far, if one does not get lost in the void along the way.”